Overview and Design Philosophy
'Overview' Player Objectives The story of Ensembler starts with a young adult starting his journey from his hometown to Vienna, Austria, for the prestigous international conducting competition. As a part of the journey, he travels to many cities in Renaissance Europe, and conduct concerts for them to hone his skills. The primary objective of the game is to expertly conduct ensembles in concert settings, cultivate audience, advance to later cities, and ultimately compete with all other conductors from the world in the final showdown in Vienna. During a concert, a trail of shapes follows the player's baton and serves as an indicator of audience satisfaction: when the length of the trail becomes zero, the player fails the level. In the freeplay mode, there are high scores and high combos that were achieved by the level designer for all songs in the Ensembler repertoire. Consider it a challenge to beat them. Genre Ensembler is a rhythm game. Good control of rhythm is required to conduct well in this world. Target Player The target players are mainstream casual game players. Competition Wii Music Wii Music also features the player as a conductor who directs an ensemble to create music. However, its gameplay is relatively shallow and is only sensitive to a very limited number of conducting moves. Ensembler, on the other hand, allows the player to decide the tempo and dynamics of the piece by mastering various conducting techniques. It further stands out from other music games with its unique resource management elements incorporated into the gameplay. Elite Beat Agents Elite Beat Agents is a popular Nintendo DS game featuring tapping to rhythm. It is similar to Ensembler such that it requires the player to tap and trace at the correct times and places. However, majority of the songs Elite Beat Agents use are modern pop, which are vastly different from classical music. Lovers of rhythm games will enjoy the change in musical genre, and will be able to immerse themselves with conducting an ensemble rather than a dance crew. Again, the resource management aspect of Ensembler will attract more players who are not solely interested in music and rhythm. Unique Selling Point The choice of music differentiates Ensembler from most other rhythm games. As well, the game mechanics separates itself from the rest by bringing conducting into the gaming world. Design Philosophy The main gameplay of Ensembler is comprised of a combination of rhythm-based musical challenges. Unlike other typical rhythm games, most of which feature pop or rock songs, this game focuses on well-known cla ssical pieces since the era of Renaissance. In the gameplay interface, the player conducts by moving the in-game baton. Paths represented by trails of dots are drawn onto screen, and the player is evaluated based on how well t he movements from the baton match them. Additional gestures such as shaking the baton and adjusting volume of the ensemble will also be used to increase the variety of mechanics. Ensembler incorporates elements of real-life conducting into the gameplay, and presents parts of the discipline throughout the game. The evaluation of player movements will be done such that the highest score is awarded for traces that best follow the rhythms. Tempos of music will vary between, and sometimes even within songs. This mechanism promotes moving the baton in a controlled and rhythmic manner rather than blindly following dots displayed. Finally, as all music used in Ensembler are simplified arrangements of real classical pieces, players are subconsciously exposed to the genre while playing the game.